Pot Au Pho 2.0: How Chef Peter Cuong Franklin Redefines Vietnamese Pho in Ho Chi Minh City
- Julia Lee
- 2일 전
- 4분 분량
Vietnamese pho is often described as comfort food—humble, aromatic, and deeply tied to everyday life. At Pot Au Pho 2.0, however, pho is treated not as a fixed dish, but as a structure that can be dismantled, studied, and reassembled. Opened in late 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City, this 14-seat tasting-counter restaurant presents pho as a twelve-course dining experience shaped by modern culinary techniques and conceptual intent.
Rather than aiming to replace the traditional bowl of pho, Pot Au Pho 2.0 positions itself as an analytical exploration of Vietnam’s most iconic dish—one that asks how far pho can evolve while remaining recognizably itself.
A Michelin-Starred Chef at the Center of Vietnam’s Culinary Shift
Chef Peter Cuong Franklin is best known as the founder of Anan Saigon, Vietnam’s first Michelin-starred restaurant. His career has been defined by a consistent effort to bridge Vietnamese street food culture with contemporary fine dining frameworks. Having trained and worked abroad before returning to Vietnam, Franklin has long focused on translating local flavors into globally legible culinary language.
With Pot Au Pho 2.0, his attention narrows to a single subject: pho. This restaurant represents a culmination of more than a decade spent cooking, observing, and questioning Vietnamese street food—not from a nostalgic standpoint, but from a structural and technical one.
What Is Pot Au Pho 2.0?
Pot Au Pho 2.0 is located in the Ton That Dam market area of Ho Chi Minh City. Designed like an omakase sushi counter, it seats only fourteen guests around an open kitchen. The restaurant operates in the evening only, with reservations required, and the experience lasts approximately two hours.
The tasting menu consists of twelve courses and is priced at around VND 3.5 million per person, excluding beverage pairings. From its scale and format alone, it is clear that this is not intended as casual dining. Instead, it functions as a tightly controlled culinary presentation focused on progression, contrast, and repetition.
Deconstructing Pho: Broth as Identity
At the conceptual core of Pot Au Pho 2.0 lies a single idea: pho is defined by its broth. Franklin has repeatedly emphasized that even when pho is transformed into unfamiliar shapes, the broth is what allows diners to recognize its identity.
The broth here is prepared using a French consommé technique. Bones and meat are simmered on the first day to extract flavor, then clarified on the second day using egg whites and lean meat to remove impurities. The resulting liquid is clear and tea-colored, yet unmistakably aromatic. This clarity is not visual spectacle—it is a method of isolating pho’s essence.
Throughout the menu, the broth reappears in different forms, acting as a connective thread that anchors the experience.
Modern Techniques, Familiar Aromas
Early courses reinterpret pho through unexpected textures. A dish inspired by Hanoi-style egg pho becomes an onsen-style egg served with pho jelly and Da Lat caviar. Another course encapsulates pho flavors inside a delicate sphere, borrowing techniques associated with molecular gastronomy to create a single, aromatic burst.
Elsewhere, pho is translated into a tartare format. Rice noodles are reshaped into a base, topped with finely chopped beef seasoned with cinnamon, star anise, and herbs traditionally served alongside pho. These dishes do not aim to imitate the visual form of pho, but rather to preserve its aromatic logic.
Regional Memory and a Return to Tradition
Midway through the tasting menu, Franklin introduces a sequence inspired by regional variations of pho, referencing Hanoi, Hue, and Saigon styles. Presented in miniature bowls, this section highlights pho’s evolution as a regional and personal dish rather than a standardized recipe.
Later, a course titled “Pho Bo” marks the closest return to tradition. Featuring a clarified broth and a layered selection of beef cuts—including wagyu tenderloin, Angus tenderloin, short ribs, tongue, and tendon—the dish emphasizes texture and depth while restoring visual familiarity after multiple abstractions.
Le Pot Au Pho: Culinary Dialogue Across Cultures
The most symbolically charged dish is “Le Pot Au Pho.” Presented like a French soup sealed beneath a puff pastry dome, the dish references classic French haute cuisine while incorporating pho broth, Vietnamese herbs, wagyu beef, and foie gras.
This is not an exercise in Westernization, but a deliberate acknowledgment of Vietnam’s historical relationship with French culinary culture. The dish reframes that history through a contemporary Vietnamese perspective, turning hybridity into a central theme rather than a hidden influence.
Innovation With Defined Limits
Not every experiment survived the development process. Franklin has noted that certain ideas—such as pho-flavored ice cream—were abandoned after failing to balance savory and sweet elements effectively. These omissions are telling. Pot Au Pho 2.0 is not about unlimited reinvention, but about understanding how far transformation can go before identity dissolves.
What Pot Au Pho 2.0 Means for Vietnamese Cuisine Today
Pot Au Pho 2.0 does not seek mass appeal, nor does it attempt to redefine how pho should be eaten in daily life. Instead, it operates as a conceptual framework—a place where pho becomes a medium for examining Vietnamese culinary identity in a globalized fine-dining context.
The experience may not deliver universal satisfaction, particularly for diners expecting emotional familiarity or comfort. However, its significance lies in its inquiry. By treating pho as a flexible cultural language rather than a fixed dish, Pot Au Pho 2.0 contributes meaningfully to the ongoing evolution of modern Vietnamese cuisine.
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